Food & wine in perfect symbiosis
I followed Christian Tschida’s invitation to an evening with a great menu at Konstantin Filippou’s O Boufés and his wines as pairing.
O Boufés is located in the center of Vienna and is a natural wine bar in combination with a high end bistro. The place features industrial chic with its bare walls and color coming off and certainly has style factor.
Before I dive in medias res and talk about the food, let me just say a few words about wine maker Christian Tschida. I got to know him coincidentally at a wine shop and went to visit and try his wines on a sunny morning in the beginning of November. Talking to him is quite intense, because he wants you to understand what he is doing and why. So you realize quickly that he has a very thought through concept with respect to sustainability and a clear idea on how he wants to produce his wines and how they should taste. Personally, I love the concept, but it gets even better: drinking Christian Tschida’s wines is exciting, because they are very unconventional taste-wise. They also feature a lovely lightness, which always lets my palate jubilee.
Food & wine
We started the night at the bar with a few sips of Himmel auf Erden 2015 rosé, which is an unfiltered mash fermented rosé made from cabernet franc. Being very animating and fresh on palate with nice fruity flavors it was the perfect start of the night and kept you wanting more. But this was only the beginning and so we moved to the table for some plain bread before the first course.
Our first course consisted of sardine filets with cauliflower in buttered breadcrumbs and grapefruit. Texture wise the fresh and crispy cauliflower florets mixed with cooked cauliflower in buttered bread crumbs in combination with the creaminess of some sort of mayonnaise was very exciting. However, the sardine filet’s flavor was just so overpowering that it was tough to handle. Interestingly, it tasted brilliant with the citrusy grapefruit, which left you longing for more grapefruit.
The sardine was accompanied by Himmel auf Erden II 2015, which is an unfiltered mash-fermented cuvée of Scheurebe and pinot blanc. Flavor-wise the wine has nice components of ripe yellow fruit but is still nice and playful on the palate with pleasant acidity. Very nice and easy to drink.
Red beet, red cabbage, black currant and yoghurt. I liked the deep red combination of earthiness and sweetness from the beet root, a bit of cinnamon from the red cabbage and hints of black currant here and there, although I feel like there was a bit too much beet root in the dish for a really nice balance.
The combination with Red Sonja 2015 was a dream, however, because it is a super light, fresh and fruity red wine with flavors of red berries that complemented the dish perfectly – fantastic!
Filled quail, puntarelle, anchovy salsa verde. What can I say? The quail meat had a great texture, I loved the filling and the puntarelle just gave the dish a certain ease and contrast. Simply an amazing dish.
The filled quail was served with Non-Tradition 2014. Non-Tradition is a Grüner Veltliner, but in no world would I ever have guessed that, because it’s so wide and soft on your palate and doesn’t have a distinct acidity. My favorite wine of the night!
As a last dish we had crispy white chocolate, chestnut, cranberry and salted almond ice cream. I very much enjoyed the texture of this dish as it has a nice crisp and a smooth creaminess. Maybe a hint too creamy for my taste, but flavor-wise the combination with cranberries worked very well and the salted almond ice cream was simply fantastic.
The wine was Laissez-faire süß 2007 from the magnum bottle. Definitely a full-bodied white wine with a lot of substance and extract – interesting to drink, but a bit more “complicated” than its predecessors.
Service & other things good to know
The service is really attentive and will make sure you’re never on the dry. You can tell that you’re in good hands, be it with food or wine recommendations.
O Boufés offers a business lunch Monday to Friday for EUR 15 for two courses.
Conclusion
If you are a natural wine lover, O Boufés is THE place in Vienna for you. The feature a range of around 100 different natural wines, and even have a nice selection by the glass. In case you are new to natural wines or need help, Dominik, the sommelier, and his team will be happy to assist you.
To sum it up, we had a really good time at O Boufés with amazing wine and good conversations. The food is good and the quality of the ingredients used very high. Some dishes are even excellent, but the focus here lies more on the wine in my opinion. If you are looking for a wine adventure and want to snack a little on high-end bistro food, go there!
Restaurant information
Address_ Dominikanerbastei 17, 1010 Vienna
Opening hours_ Monday – Friday 11:30 – 15:00 and 18:00 – 24:00, Saturday 18:00 – 24:00, Sundays closed
Price category_ EUR 15-25 for a main dish
Website_ http://www.konstantinfilippou.com/de/oboufes/startseite.html
Facebook_ @oboufes
Instagram_ konstantinfilippou
Phone_ +43 1 512222910
Neni's Kitchen 